Toy house



June '17, 1952 A. G. MCNEILL TOY HOUSE Filed Sept. 11, 1948 IN VEN TOR.14L6RT QEORGE Me NE LL BY f! A rroR/vE Y Patented June 17, 1952 my HOUSEAlbert .George MoNeill, Philadelphia; Panpassignoi' to.; Bachma nn Bros.Inc-:,.;Philadelphia,' Pa-., a oorporationof Pennsylvania j ApplicationSeptember 11, 194s; Serial Nofl 48,812

,Thisinvention. relates .in'general to toys, and more particularly totoy houses of the knockdown or collapsible types The principal objectofthetinvention is to provide 'a tophouse kitor assembly of a pleasingdesign,. and-simplified construction, and especially adapted for theamusementand instruc- Itioniofchildren.

1; Another object is the provision of a .childs. toy

house of collapsible or knock-down type, and

formedofxplastic, washable. materialthat may be assembled in a matter ofminutes'by a child td-serve both as a toy and/or as a decoration forChristmasgardens and .the like. .A further object of the invention istoprovi'de a novel .toy house. assemblyof substantially unbreakable,plastic material, and particularly adaptedto be assembled by childreninto a miniature reproduction of. anattractive cottage. i .Astill.further object of the invention is to provide. a my house kit of the.type indicated, and wherein...the.-.plastic. Washable, components arerovided with means facilitating their immediate operative junction toform the completed house.

Other objects and advantages residing in the novel design and.construction, .and in the. combination and arrangementof.-parts,.will.appear as the description proceeds and willbebestunderstoodwhen taken in. connection with the accompanying drawings,wherein: Figurefltis aperspectiveview of the toy house as it appearsafter being assembled; and Figure 2..is an explodedperspective view,with parts .omitted, andshowingthe means provided for operativelyretaining. theassembly together in theiform shown in Figure 1.

Referring. now tothe drawings wherein similar i characters of reference.indicate correspondingipart'si-in the several views of the preferredand. connected to the front and back walls I3,

I'd-respectively... The side walls which are sub stantially similar insize andover-all configuration have a rectangular body portion and atriangulanshapedupper. portion, as at 15. According to thepresentinventiomthe opposite or lat- .er'ali'edges of eachendwall isformed with spaced projecting lugs, as at I6, that providecorrespondingly spaced openings or. notches lfia therebetween.'Ihet'brick-shaped lugs lfi as described I hereinafter; are adapted todovetail with com- I. i... I J1.- plementary..brick-shapedl s iilfiorm'eo the adjacentsedgei portions of theirorit andback walls L3, i Lthat.similarly. provide spacedtiopens ings,l aslat Ila, .to.accommodatezthelugs. 1.6,;whi1e the said lugs' .!.'i':are beingreceivedinth. spaces l6a. The .n'lanner...ofJoiningor .dolvetailing thecomplementary lugsl-S and I! is shownin Figure 2', :itilbeing'understood that, by reason of their plastic and flexible composition,.these lugs. read.- ily. engage in clampinglfashion to. securely -retainthe .fourzwalls. in :the..:normal.=vertical; posie tionshowninFigui-e l.LTheL'side. onend walLzJ l.'is :molded breast to provide aldoor l8 and.a...window .l9;.while'..the companion Isidewall .l 2 is. formed toprovidettwo windows 2c and 1.2 i ,sland .lalsoa i com-paratively smallwindow: frame. or Ventopening 22. The front. wall .113 is "molded or?cast tosiinulate a centrally Ipositioned door assembly.- indicatedgenerally. atf'23.' .Located. on eithenlsideiof the door 23Lin.spaced.relation is. a pair. of...iv'zindow frames designated.generallyat': 24,? 25. that .similarly to. the? door.'22,;.ar.etmoldedintegrally with the front wall. Thecomplementary baclewalllfl difiersfrom the front wall l3 in that a do'on2-6 arranged at one side of twosimilarly positioned windows=2'l, 28. Here also, the moldedconstruction, it will beunderstood, issuchas' to simulate the actualappearance of window framesJand a .doonwithout thesprovision of meansforotheir actual movement. Referring toFigure 2, it..will. be seen thatthe slanting roof, designated Y generallyat ,...29, .is formed of.twocomplementary members 30, 3.! respectively. Each. ofthe..members...30-,.\3l.xas viewed in Figure :2, isprov-idedwithl.anjupper pair of studs orprongs 32 .and a lower. pair ofstuds 33. The lower pair of. these lugs isgadapted to seat on theetopedgesofthe .front andback walls I3, 1:4 and also to abut against thesidewalls l l and I2 so thatits positionis secured in. the operativerelation shown inFigureil. The .upper edge of each roof member 30, 3| isalso'formed with a reinforcing strip or portion as. at 34. Each roofmember is configured to simulate shingles, as at 35 andhas itsreinforcing portion 33 notched as at 36 to form a square. opening.3'|when the two roof members are in the. position illustrated in Figure. l.Theopening 31 accommodates. a .chimney 38 formed ormolded of the sameplastic, washable material as the other components of the assembly. Thehollow chimney member 38 is shouldered or reduced as at 39 for receptionin the above-mentioned opening 31 and is additionally recessed as at 40to provide a triangular shaped recess that fits over and accommodatesthe adjacent intersecting edges of the reinforced portions 34 of theroof members 30, 3|.

According to individual preference, the component parts of the assemblyare preferably provided in pleasing color designs. For example, thedoors and windows may be red, while the walls and chimney may be white.It will be further observed that the dovetails or lugs l6, i! not onlyserve as means for retaining the walls together, but also convey thegeneral impression of a pleasing brick or building block construction.

The mode of assembling the components of the toy house outfit has beenin large size indicated above but may be summarized as follows:

One of the side walls I I or l2 may be placed in a normal verticalposition and, by way of example, the front wall l3 thrust thereagainstin such wise as to join the dovetail lugs l6 and [1 into cooperativerelation. The back wall [4 may now be similarly secured to the same sidewall and this is followed by the application of the remaining side Wallin the same manner. Each of the roof members 30, 3| will now be laid inslanting fashion upon the upper sloping edges of the end walls ll, l2and upon the horizontally extending upper edges of the front and backwalls l3, 14. As mentioned above, the bottom lugs of the pairs 3|, 32will engage the upper edges of the front and back walls, and theadjacent lateral portions of the side walls and the upper pair of lugs32 will contact the adjacent inner surface of the side walls, therebypreventing displacement of the roof members until desired. The chimney38 now may be inserted in the opening 31, thus completing the assembly.

It is to be understood that the invention may be embodied in thespecific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributesthereof, and it is therefore desired that the present embodiment beconsidered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive,reference being had to the appended claims rather than to the foregoingdescription to indicate the scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. In a knock-down toy assembly of the character described, thecombination of a pair of structural elements that are intended to bedetachably secured together, each of said elements being made from aplastic material and having a main body portion that is relatively thinand an end edge, and a plurality of lugs arranged in spaced relationalong said end edge from which they project and integrally joined tosaid main body portion, each of said lugs being thicker than said mainbody portion and having a pair of uninterrupted continuous parallelsurfaces normal to said end edge, the spaced lugs on one of saidelements being complemental to the lugs on the other of said elementsbetween which they are adapted to frictionally interfit with the faceson one lug engaging those of adjacent lugs to establish a detachableconnection between said elements.

2. In a toy house, a pair of Wall elements intended to be detachablysecured together at an angle, each of said wall elements being made froma plastic material and having a main body portion that is relativelythin, and an end. edge that is adapted to be detachably secured to thecorresponding end edge of the other of said elements, and a plurality oflugs arranged in spaced relation alon each end edge and projectingtherefrom with the lugs on one end edge interfitting between the lugs onthe other end edge, each of said lugs being thicker than said main bodyportion and having a pair of continuous uninterrupted parallel surfacesnormal to said end edge with the surfaces of the lugs on one wallelement in frictional engagement with the surfaces of the lugs on theother wall element.

3. In a toy house of the character described, a pair of opposed endwalls, a front wall, and a rear wall, said walls being arranged inrectangular formation with each wall being made from a plastic materialand having end edges that are joined to the end edges of adjacent Wallsby a detachable connection, said detachable connection comprising spacedlugs integrally formed on the end edge of each wall and interfittingwith corresponding lugs on adjacent walls, said lugs being thicker thansaid Walls and extending beyond the outer faces thereof, each of saidlugs having a pair of continuous uninterrupted parallel surfaces normalto the end edge of the wall by which it is carried with the surfaces ofthe lug on one wall in frictional engagement with the surfaces of thelugs on the other wall.

l. In a toy house, front and rear walls of rectangular formation definedby end edges, top and bottom edges, a pair of end walls each having anend edge corresponding to the end edges of said front and rear walls, abottom edge corresponding to the bottom edge of said front and rearwalls, and a pair of inclined top edges that meet at an angle and whichare disposed above the top edges of said front and rear walls, each ofsaid Walls being made of a plastic material and of relatively thinconstruction, a series of spaced lugs projecting beyond each end edge ofeach wall and integrally joined thereto, each of said lugs being thickerthan the respective wall on which it is formed, the lugs on the edge ofone wall interfitting with the lugs on the edge of an adjacent wall toestablish a, detachable connection therebetween, a pair of roof membersresting on the top edges of said walls, and lugs projecting downwardlyfrom the lower faces of said roof members, and engaging said wallsadjacent to the upper edges thereof to detachably hold said roof membersin position.

5. In a toy house, front and rear walls of rectangular formation definedby end edges, top and bottom edges, a pair of end walls each having anend edge corresponding to the end edges of said front and rear walls, abottom edge corresponding to the bottom edge of said front and rearwalls, and a pair of inclined top edges that meet at an angle and whichare disposed above the top edges of said front and rear walls, each ofsaid walls being made of a plastic material and of relatively thinconstruction, a series of spaced lugs projecting beyond each end edge ofeach wall and integrally joined thereto, each of said lugs being thickerthan the respective wall on which it is formed, the lugs on the edge ofone wall interfitting with the lugs on the edge of an adjacent wall toestablish a detachable connection therebetween, a pair of roof membersresting on the top edges of said walls, each of said roof members beingof rectangular formation presentin four corners, a lug arranged at eachof said corners spaced fromthe edges thereat and projecting downwardlyfrom the inner face of the respective roof member, said lugs beingadapted to engage said walls to removably hold said roof members inposition on said walls, said roof members meeting at an apex with eachroof member formed with a recess along said meet- 5 ing edge, and achimney removably positioned Number in the opening defined by saidrecesses. 972,498 ALBERT GEORGE MCNEILL. 1,107,477 1,110,093 REFERENCESCITED 5 1,371,35 The following references are of record in the 1,716,233file'jbf this patent: UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,334,844 Number Name Date10 129,960 Johnson July 30, 1872 6 Name Date Boyd et a1 Oct. 11, 1910Bartels Aug. 18, 1914 Yauck Sept. 8, 1914 Cade Mar. 15, 1921 Nichols eta1. June 4, 1929 Fay Oct. 20, 1936 Schauer Aug. 3, 1937 Salter Nov. 23,1943

